But know this, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 Tim. 3:1

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Satan Is Not An Angel

One of the errors that the church is forced to uphold, because she believes that there is only one God, is that Satan is an angel. When Satan, one of the Gods, took up arms against Jehovah, the war in heaven took place. That war is recorded in Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28 and in The Revelation.

Greek and Babylonian mythology has much to say about the various gods and their continual striving with each other. They had their wars on earth and in heaven. It seems that these myths were based on earlier Babylonian stories, (as the Bible also is). The Babylonian story says in part, Then joined issue (to engage in battle) Tiamet and Marduk, wisest of gods. They strove in single combat, locked in battle...After he had slain Tiamet, the leader, her band was shattered, her troupe broken up. Some sources place the wars between these two groups at 10,000 to 12,000 years (ago).

Surely, we would like to throw out stories like this as ancient fiction, but they are not so easily discarded, for in the Bible we also read of God doing battle with Satan and winning the war. A story like this makes absolutely no sense if we insist on believing that God is Omnipotent and that Satan is merely an angel. There could be no meaningful contest between two contestants so unequally matched. The image that presents itself to the mind is that of a professional wrestler in the ring, trying to defend his title against a newborn baby. I repeat; The Gods spoken of in the Bible are not all that we have been taught to believe they are, and conversely, Satan is not an angel but rather one of those Gods.

Milton, in Paradise Lost, had much to say about the fall of Satan. Some of it sounds as if Satan fell from heaven in a burning spacecraft. He trusted to have equal’d the Most High, if he oppos’d; and with ambitious aim against the throne and Monarchy of God rais’d impious war in Heaven and Battel proud with vain attempt. Him the Almighty power hurld headlong flaming from th’ Ethereal skie with hideous ruine and combustion down to bottomless perdition, there to dwell in Adamantine Chains and penal Fire, who durst defie the Omnipotent to Arms.

In Milton’s poem, after Satan had lost the battle, and having regained consciousness in Hell, notices that the army that had been fighting them has been recalled to Heaven, perhaps because they have run out of ammunition. But see the Angry Victor hath recall’d his Ministers of vengeance and pursuit back to the gates of heaven: The Sulphurous Hail shot after us in storm...Hath spent his shafts, and ceases now.

Perhaps this is exactly what Job had in mind when he said, His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.Job 26:13. Is it possible that the producers of Star Wars were simulating scenes from ages before modern human history began?

The teaching of the forces of good and evil opposing each other is completely coherent with the Bible’s statements; war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.The Rev. 12:7-9. Where and why did all this contention begin? Some Bible teachers say that Isaiah 14:4-23 refers only to the King of Babylon, but many say that the deeper meaning of these verses is about the fall of Satan. How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!... For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.Jehovah and his angels are the occupiers of the Mount of the assembly and that war between the two forces broke out because Satan wanted the place where the Lord’s throne is.

If Satan is just an angel how is it that he has a throne? Michael and Gabriel do not have thrones. Only potentates have thrones. Nowhere does the Bible teach that Satan is an angel. That is merely a supposition the church has handed us because she believes there is only one God.

Satan also said, I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far north. Who is on the mount of assembly? Common theology has placed God there. Billy Graham even suggested that the reason there are no stars in the north is because, that is where God’s throne is. Considering that, according to Church theology, Jehovah is omnipresent, is His confinement to a throne in the Northern hemisphere logical? Is Jehovah closer to the Northern hemisphere than He is to the Southern hemisphere?

If, during Satan’s temptation of Christ in the wilderness, he would have won the victory over Christ, he could forever after have taken it easy because all the souls of all the people in the world would have been his. True, he has lost his throne in the heavens, but, according to Milton, Satan said, Tis better to rule in Hell than serve in heaven.

The book of Job starts by telling of the riches and the family of Job. It continues Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. We notice that, sons of God, is written in plural, and that Satan was among those named as sons of God. In an earlier post we learned that, in the Bible, the word God should really be written as Gods. We also understand, from the Bible, that Jehovah has only one Son, and yet the Bible speaks of the sons of God, in plural. Does it not seem obvious, than, that there are other gods than Jehovah? It is interesting that of eight different translations of the Bible that were checked, in this regard, only three leave this phrase as the sons of God. One of them has a footnote, which says sons of God means angels. Five of the translations use the word, angels, but as a footnote, they say that in the Hebrew language it reads, sons of God. This is a good example of how easily Bible translators can shape or reshape theology.

Perhaps it also shows how ingrained our beliefs are. We, almost, cannot let go of the ideas we grew up with, although the Bible tells us otherwise, but really, it is time to think again.

Think Again

Make it your language

About Me

Have you ever grappled with this question: How can the great
universal creative force take a personal interest in me? Have you ever wondered why the Bible has so
many allusions to the fact that Jehovah is physical, if in fact, He is
not? Have you ever tried to get an
honest answer to this question: if Jehovah is invisible why do so many people
in the perfect Bible say that they saw Him. No
doubt, you have met this oxymoron:
Jehovah is infinite; Jehovah is infinite love yet He allowed sin to
enter the human race; He allows natural disasters and wars to kill or maim
hundreds of thousands of people. Do the
glib answers theologians give you not make you wonder if they know what they
are talking about?

In this blog I take a totally different approach, whether,
or not, you want to agree with me, I hope that you will read my blog with an
open mind, you owe it to yourself.